Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria

Night on Bald Mountain/Ave Maria is an animated musical segment from the 1940 Disney film, Fantasia. It has influenced the development of the Haunted Mansion franchise.

Synopsis[]

The animated short revolves around the demonic deity Chernabog, the god of darkness from Slavic mythology. Chernabog awakes from the peak of his abode on Bald Mountain and casts the neighbouring village in blackness to celebrate Walpurgis night, a night of festivity for witchcraft. He summons ghosts, demons, harpies and beasts to join in his celebration.

The celebrations end however when a group of priests begin singing ave Maria in the churchyard of the village. This results in Chernabog being forced back into his slumber and for his ghostly followers to return to their tombs.

Haunted Mansion Connections[]

The Haunted Mansion[]

An unused concept for the Haunted Mansion would have had ghosts similar to those from the film rising from a graveyard around the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow following the would-be wedding of Mlle. Vampire.
The wraiths in the ballroom and shrouds in the graveyard seem to be visually based off of the ghosts from Night on Bald Mountain.
The Spectres seen rising from the graveyard by guests leaving the attic were inspired by the ghosts rising from this short.
The Witch of Walpurgis character made for Changing Portraits and featured in the Sinister 11 takes her moniker from Walpurgis night, the setting of a Night on Bald Mountain.

Phantom Manor[]

Concept art for Phantom Manor shows flying spirits clearly based off of the ghosts from a Night on Bald Mountain. They are however altered to resemble the archetypal, "Wild Hunt" found in folklore and cultural practices.
- The Ghost Rider portrait found following the 2018 refurbishment has buffalos in the sky in this vain.

Mystic Manor[]

Mystic Manor features a deity called Stribog. Stribog is a slavic deity who comes from the same Slavic pantheon as Chernabog.

Epic Mickey[]

A portrait of Chernabog can be found in the foyer of Lonesome Manor, this video-game's melting-pot counterpart to the Haunted Mansion. Said portrait has an imprisoned gremlin ally hiding behind it.

Other[]

Chernabog is considered an official member of the Disney Villains franchise. The Hitchhiking Ghosts (Ezra, Gus and Phineas) are also considered members of this roster.
The ghosts from the Haunted Mansion mirror these ghosts' swarm in the film Mickey's House of Villains where Chernabog also was featured.

Disney Parks Appearances[]

Bald Mountain was once proposed to be the setting of a Night on Bald Mountain themed roller-coaster/flume-ride which would have been built in Fantasyland in the space once occupied by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage. This was developed largely from plans for the also unbuilt attraction, Fire Mountain which would have been themed around Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).
- Ultimately this attraction went unbuilt and in modern day the space is used by Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, Ariel's Grotto and a Disney Vacation Club location (also themed around the Little Mermaid (1989)).
Chernabog and his minions appear in the show Fantasmic!, working for the Evil Queen in the original Disneyland, Tom Sawyer's Island variant and for Hades in Walt Disney World's. The show recycles clips from Fantasia.
In World of Colour, Chernabog and his minions frequently appear.
Chernabog is summoned by Hades in the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom attraction in Walt Disney World as a boss.
In Disneyland Paris, Chernabog and Bald Mountain physically appear in the Storybook Land Canal Boats ride in Fantasyland.

Trivia[]

While inspiring the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, the spirits found in Night on Bald Mountain also inspired the villainous Horned King from the commercially and critically failed Disney film, The Black Cauldron (1985).